iPhone 15 series: Design, features, price and more

The iPhone 15 will come in four variants: the iPhone 15, the iPhone 15 Plus, the iPhone 15 Pro, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus will come in five different colors, namely pink, yellow, green, blue, and black, while the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max will come in black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium, and natural titanium.

The iPhones being made of titanium was something that was speculated about in the hours leading to the start of the “Wonderlust” event, with People quoting Digitimes Research senior smartphone analyst Luke Lin as saying that the iPhone 15 will be made of titanium.

Aside from the material used for the phone, the latest iPhone will also feature an advanced 48MP Main camera for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models, while the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models will have a camera that has improved Focus and Depth Control, Night mode, Smart HDR and 5x Telephoto.

The iPhone 15 will also feature the same USB-C charging point that are also found in Android smartphone models, as speculated on by CBS News

The prices for the new iPhones also correspond with the prices that Forbes has predicted. The iPhone 15 will start at $799 (P45,258), the iPhone 15 Plus will start at $899 (P50,922), the iPhone 15 Pro will start at $999 (P56,586), and the iPhone 15 Pro Max will start at $1,199 (P67,915).

 

iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus Features

 

The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are each available in five color options: pink, yellow, green, blue, and black. Perhaps the most significant change for the lineup is a move from the Lightning port that has been present on every iPhone for over a decade to a USB-C port, although data transfers on these models remain at the same USB 2.0 speeds that were available with Lightning.

The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus use the same A16 Bionic chip that debuted in the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, using 20 percent less power and delivering improved performance and 50 percent more memory bandwidth compared to the A15 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus.

Camera improvements include a new 48-megapixel Main camera with a quad-pixel sensor that defaults to capturing 24-megapixel photos. The updated Main camera also allows for a new 2x Telephoto option intelligently cropped from the full camera capture.

Portraits no longer require switching Portrait mode, with the iPhone 15 automatically capturing depth information when a person, dog, or cat is detected in the frame. The new camera system also brings sharper detail, more vivid colors, and improved low-light performance to portraits, while Night mode sees similar improvements.

A second-generation Ultra Wideband chip delivers enhanced proximity-based functionality, allowing iPhones to connect to each other at three times the range as before. With Precision Finding in the Find My app, you can track down your friends even in a dense crowd.

Battery life remains the same on the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus compared to their predecessors, with video playback for up 20 hours on the iPhone 15 and 26 hours on the iPhone 15 Plus. As with the last several generations, the iPhone 15 models support 5G connectivity (both sub-6GHz and mmWave in the United States), and they use a new Qualcomm X70 modem. In the United States, iPhone models again ship without a physical SIM card as carriers now use eSIM.

Emergency SOS via satellite debuted with the iPhone 14 lineup, and this year it is expanding to include Roadside Assistance via satellite. Apple is partnering with service agencies such as AAA in the United States to allow users experiencing vehicle difficulties while out of cell signal range to request service, either as part of their AAA membership or on a fee basis.

The iPhone 15 models are available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage capacities. In addition to wired charging via USB-C, wireless charging via MagSafe and Qi2 is also supported. The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus support Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3

 

 

iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max:

A Stunning, Lightweight, and Durable Design

Available in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch display sizes,² iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max feature a strong and lightweight titanium design — a first for iPhone. This premium alloy — the same used in spacecraft — has one of the highest strength-to-weight ratios of any metal, making this Apple’s lightest Pro lineup ever. Both models feature a new refined brush texture, contoured edges, and the thinnest borders on iPhone. The Pro lineup is built to last, combining the strength of titanium with the toughest back glass in a smartphone and the industry-leading Ceramic Shield on the front. Using an industry-first thermo-mechanical process, the titanium bands encase a new substructure made from 100 percent recycled aluminum, bonding these two metals with incredible strength through solid-state diffusion. The aluminum frame helps with thermal dissipation and allows the back glass to be easily replaced. This new design highlights the Super Retina XDR display with Always-On and ProMotion technologies for an exceptional viewing experience.

 

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max have slightly rounded edges, which feels better in hand. which are still 6.1 inches for the iPhone 15 Pro and 6.7 inches for the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

As for colors, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max come in four metallic hues: traditional black and white titanium, as well as a blue titanium and a "natural" titanium with a gray tone.

There's also one more new feature: an action button that replaces the mute switch iPhones have had for years. By default, you can long press to mute or unmute. You can customize it to trigger a number of shortcuts like turning on the flashlight, recording a voice memo or even opening the camera. Once the camera app was open, I used the action button as a physical shutter button to take photos

Better cameras, better zoom

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max have a 48-megapixel camera with a larger sensor. The photos are 24 megapixels by default, and lidar scanning augments low-light and night photography. The phones also have a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera inherited from last year's iPhone 14 Pro.  

But the big feature this year is better zoom, though only for the larger premium phone. The Pro retains its predecessor's 3x telephoto camera (equivalent to a 77mm lens), while the Pro Max has a 5x optical zoom (equivalent to a 120mm lens) -- a "tetraprism" design that refracts light multiple times to enable more zoom within the iPhone's compact frame. When I tried the Pro Max's new telephoto camera out, it was eye opening what a difference 5x made over 3x on the 15 Pro. I was even able to digitally zoom to 25x magnification which is ridiculous for an iPhone.

 

Additional features that benefit all cameras on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max include:

• Night mode gets better with sharper details and more vivid colors, now powered by the Photonic Engine, including Night mode portraits, enabled by the LiDAR scanner.

• New Smart HDR captures subjects and the background with more true-to-life renderings of skin tones, while ensuring photos have brighter highlights, richer midtones, and deeper shadows when viewed in the Photos app. This advanced HDR rendering is also available to third-party apps, so images can look even better when shared online.

• The best quality video in a smartphone is upgraded thanks to A17 Pro, with improvements in low-light video and Action mode.

 

 

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max cameras will also have expanded video capabilities, like vlog encoding, as well as using the faster throughput speeds on USB-C cables to shoot and instantly transfer photos taken in the maximum sharpness Pro Raw format from your iPhone 15 Pro to a Mac. It can also record video in ProRes format directly to an external storage drive.  

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max get a forward-looking feature in spatial video capture, using multiple cameras to take videos with depth that can be watched on an Apple Vision Pro AR/VR headset. Sadly, the feature won't be out until later this year.

 

 

 

Faster processor, more gaming

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max launch with the A17 Pro Bionic processor, a 3-nanometer chip that has 19 billion transistors for faster performance. The new six-core GPU is up to 20% faster than the A16's GPU and enables ray tracing. 

Apple has pushed mobile gaming in its iPhone launches for many years, and this year was no exception, as developers from Ubisoft and Capcom promoted full console versions for the iPhone of Assassin's Creed Mirage as well as Resident Evil 8 and Resident Evil 4 Remake, respectively. (The latter two confirmed to be coming to the iPhone 15 Pro later this year, with Assassin's Creed coming in early 2024.) Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding is also coming to the iPhone 15 Pro.  

While Apple pushed the iPhone 15 Pro's mobile gaming potential, the A17 Pro silicon will also benefit augmented reality applications.

iPhone 15 Pro will launch with iOS 17 (which will be available publicly when the phones launch on Sept. 22), which introduces StandBy Mode that was previewed at WWDC 2023. It basically transitions the phone to a more passive mode at night, displaying the time in oversized type and app widgets. It activates when you turn the phone sideways, but it's meant to be used when mounting the phone on a MagSafe stand, looking like the world's most expensive alarm clock.

 

Bringing pro performance and capabilities, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are powered by A17 Pro, the industry’s first 3-nanometer chip. Continuing Apple’s leadership in smartphone silicon, A17 Pro brings improvements to the entire chip, including the biggest GPU redesign in Apple’s history. The new CPU is up to 10 percent faster with microarchitectural and design improvements, and the Neural Engine is now up to 2x faster, powering features like autocorrect and Personal Voice in iOS 17. The pro-class GPU is up to 20 percent faster and unlocks entirely new experiences, featuring a new 6-core design that increases peak performance and energy efficiency. Now with hardware-accelerated ray tracing — which is 4x faster than software-based ray tracing — iPhone 15 Pro offers smoother graphics, as well as more immersive AR applications and gaming experiences. iPhone 15 Pro brings true-to-life gaming to the palm of users’ hands with console titles never before seen on a smartphone, like Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4, Death Stranding, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage.⁴

A17 Pro includes a dedicated AV1 decoder, enabling more efficient, high-quality video experiences for streaming services. Additionally, a new USB controller enables USB 3 speeds on iPhone for the first time, now supporting much higher transfer speeds and video output up to 4K at 60 fps HDR.

 

 

 

Featuring iOS 17

iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max feature iOS 17,¹¹ making iPhone even more personal and intuitive with new features:

• The Phone app gets major updates, with Contact Posters that allow users to customize how they appear to their contacts, and Live Voicemail, which leverages the power of A17 Pro to see real-time on-device transcription as someone leaves a voicemail. Users can even pick up the call while the caller is leaving their message.

• Messages gets a new stickers experience, more powerful search, transcription of audio messages, and Check In, which allows users to automatically notify friends and family when they have made it to their destination safely.

• NameDrop gives users a new way to use AirDrop to more easily share contact information by simply bringing two iPhone devices together. The same gesture can be used to AirDrop content and more, and now users can step away from each other and finish sending large files over the internet.¹²

• StandBy gives users a customizable full-screen experience with glanceable information designed to be viewed from a distance when iPhone is on its side and charging. With the Always-On display of iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, StandBy stays on to show useful information — perfect on a desk, nightstand, or kitchen counter.

• Interactive widgets on the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and in StandBy allow users to take action with just a tap, making it easy to complete a to-do, or play or pause a song right from the widget.

• Safari adds greater protection for Private Browsing and introduces profiles, helping users separate their browsing for topics like work and personal.